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I finished my first half marathon yesterday, 13.1 miles!! I felt so accomplished! It was the furthest I’ve ran, ever, and I never allowed myself to stop. I ran at a pace of 11:12 per mile, finishing in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 37 seconds.

The night before the race Darrell and I went to Thai Place, a local Thai restaurant.

Delicious Thai Food!

I had vegetable stir fry with chicken. It came with a huge scoop of rice, just the carbs I needed before the race.
The morning of the race I was nervous. I woke up and it was 35 degrees! I put on my outfit I had picked out, and hoped I would warm up fast!
I wore my Asics running shoes, knee high compression socks, running pants, a short sleeved shirt, a long sleeved running jacket, and ear muffs. All together I looked like this!

Before the race!

It was a cold one to get started, however, with my race nerves, it didn’t affect me much. The only thing I wish I had was a pair of gloves on. I am that runner that always runs with a bottle of water in my hands. One day, I’ll get a backpack, or something more fancy, but for now, I’m content with my bottle in my hands. It benefited me because while others were stopping at the water stations, I just continued running through the middle. I did grab a Gatorade at two of the stations, but I kept going through the stations and drank while on the run! Although my time may seem slow to all the all star runners, I felt very pleased that I finished before 2 hours 30 minutes, which I thought would be my goal for the next half I’m running in April! I guess I’ll need to come up with a new goal for that one soon!
Here I am after the run, headed for some breakfast:

Knees were the only thing sore!

The only thing that started bothering me around mile 10-11 was my left knee. I knew it was just because I’d never pushed my body that far, so I pushed through the pain and made it! After breakfast at Kate’s Kitchen, we went home, I stretched, and iced my knees.
I feel really good about myself today, and I cannot wait to start training for my next half in April!

Yesterday Darrell (my husband) and I went to Hermann, Missouri to enjoy tons of wine at the Octoberfest festival that is going on this month. I looked it up and saw that the lovely Bed and Breakfast we stayed at (Joey’s Birdhouse) was a block away from the Katy Trail Trailhead. I planned it out and we headed down there early Saturday morning so that I could enjoy a great run along the trail. I ended up doing 10.34 miles, 11’46” average pace, 2 hours 1 minute, 51 seconds final time. It was my longest run to date. The trail was absolutely beautiful! It is a 240 mile trail that runs from Clinton, Missouri to Machens, Missouri and there are plans to extend it to Kansas City! How Amazing would that be, you’d never get me off that trail!!

This was the start of my run, McKittrick, Missouri trail head. We headed 5 miles down the trail, turned around, and headed back. Darrell brought his bike so we were able to be together. It was so relaxing, no music, just talking and running (or riding in his case!). I enjoy that he rides his bike so that he can be along side me on my runs sometimes.

Next Saturday I’m running my first half marathon in the Waddell and Reed Kansas City Marathon. I’m very excited!! 10 miles was tough, but I KNOW that I will rock 13.1!!!